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Tyler Colvin Kindly, and Unintentionally, Rips the Cubs and Other Bullets

My first fantasy football draft of the season is later today (which could, by the way, delay the EBS) and the pressure is on – I’ve won the league two years in a row, and it always starts with the draft.

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Tyler Colvin is having a great year with the Rockies after being traded from the Cubs, and in discussing that success, he offered something telling about the previous regime in Chicago. “When I got here [to Colorado] there was good communication from the beginning,” Colvin said, according to Bruce Levine. “In the past, the program changed for me. Here I am not being pulled back and forth.” In case you need it made even more explicit than that, Colvin is saying the Rockies have done right by him, whereas the Cubs yanked him around. You’ll recall that, while in Chicago, Colvin seemed to be the rope in a tug-o-war between the front office, who seemed to think highly of him, and the manager (first Lou Piniella, then moreso Mike Quade), who did not. Thus, he frequently came up to the big club only to play inconsistently. His bat impalement injury didn’t help things, forcing him to rest, rather than work out, before the 2011 season. But the Cubs did him no favors – well, at least not until the new front office dealt him to the Rockies.

So, that crazy Red Sox/Dodgers deal is apparently done, and reports have the Dodgers taking on some 95% of the money owed to Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, and Josh Beckett, while simultaneously giving up Rubby De La Rosa and Allen Webster, a couple of top young arms. What can you say? Well, I suppose I said most of it last night, but if Gary Busey isn’t running the Dodgers, then I don’t know what’s what.

Brooks Raley is going to start today, but he actually isn’t currently on the 25-man roster after that doubleheader roster dance the Cubs did over the past two weeks. Best guess is that someone like Alberto Cabrera will head back to Iowa for the next week, and will be back when rosters expand in September. (UPDATE: Ok, so it’s going to be Chris Rusin going down for Raley, which, like, duh. I’d feel more dopey about it, but the 25-man roster currently lists no Chris Rusin on it (nor Brooks Raley), and I didn’t think the Cubs would be going with 13 pitchers. But they are. Which is dumb.)

Speaking of Samardzija, I still believe the Cubs will shut him down at some point before the end of the season, but Dale Sveum says, right now, that isn’t in the cards. “He’s fine,” Sveum said before Friday’s game. “We’ll make those decisions, but right now – like I said a week ago – all of his tests came back with flying colors. Right now, we’re on the thought of making it all the way through.” I want Samardzija to feel good and strong about his season, but I just don’t see much upside in letting him go 200 innings after throwing just 80-some last year. I see only downside. Scary, scary downside, which might not manifest itself until midseason 2013.

John at Cubs Den interviewed Jim Callis about the Cubs’ system, and there were some interesting nuggets, but the key takeaway is what we already believe to be true: the Cubs’ best/most impactful prospects are super young.

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The Cubs’ uniforms were selected as the fourth best in sports (second best in baseball, behind the Cardinals; the Bears were second overall) by some ESPN panel or something, presumably taking a break from Tebow’s birthday celebration. I mean, obviously I like the Cubs’ unis, but are they really the fourth best in all of sports? Is that even a question really worth asking? Is this obviously a stupid gimmick designed to get folks debating things that are inherently unknowable?

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